>> al: mike norio will break it down. we'd head to that matchup next week at foxborough between the 49er and the patriots. >> cris: that was almost the super bowl last year. >> al: very close. >> cris: very close indeed. >> al: the great one in san francisco. there's kyle vanden bosch. >> cris: it's been a strange year for the detroit lions. all those games last year that came down to the wire and they won. this year they all came down to the wire, and they lost. just the complete opposite of what they went through a season ago. but the curse of wisconsin continues for this team. >> al: 2002, that's the year they went to this format for

realignment of the divisions. 14-50 are the detroit lions. from the 22 and first down. stafford. it is caught but he can't get out of bounds. they don't have a time-out. first down. >> cris: even if you can get it down to field goal range, you can make a shot at making the kick, onside and see what happens. >> al: when you're down by ten. middle of the field up to the 42 yard line. packers will give them all the six, seven yard gains they want. heller making the catch. for eight. second and two. lions on the verge of their fifth consecutive defeat.

and that's incomplete, with a flag down, williams. good game all things considered. calvin johnson, look at his numbers, they're good, 1 for 98. >> referee: illegal contact. defense number 38. five yard penalty. automatic first down. >> cris: definitely contact. just a matter of who ran into whom. there you go. just one on one as it's been a lot of the time. almost looked like it was sort of a relaxed moment there. he used calvin to bounce off of him and make that turn and that flag. >> al: now from the 48. bell.

to the 43 yard line. tackled by brad jones. the clock at 50 seconds. 15 more yards, then try the onside kick. stafford going deep, and it's kicked away, incomplete. williams on the other side of the field this time. helping to guard scheffler. third down. >> cris: they've got a lot of big guys on the field right now, but they just don't have that dynamic player that we're used to seeing with detroit. he can work quickly in there. titus young should be a factor. a lot of big tight bodies out there now. maybe a good shot for a hail mary. >> al: you just mentioned the guys who will be two, three and

four on your receiver depth chart behind calvin johnson. third and two. over the middle. taking it to the 35 yard line is bell. first down, you should actually try a field goal here. instead they're going to spike the ball at the 34 yard line. >> cris: i guess the problem was hanson was short on the one right at 50. and there will be about 52, 53 at this point. >> al: academic. talking about johnson chasing rice's mark. the yardage record. that's held since 1995. through 13 games johnson ahead of the pace set by rice. rice closed with a major flourish. second down and ten.

and that pass is caught by a sliding johnson. and he's out of bounds at the 18 yard line. >> cris: i think you got to kick it here now. yep. and they're going to send it on. i agree with this one. because whatever time you have left at the end of the onside kick, you hope to take one big throw into the end zone and get the hail mary. but you have to have both. >> al: as simple as that. they need the field goal, then onside kick, then hail mary. besides that, not much. and he makes it. and they get a 7-point gain. 27-20. you have seven seconds. clock will start when the ball is touched. >> cris: exactly. al, i think the key here is for jim schwartz is you've got to do an onside kick that is going to

take you close enough to do the hail mary. so instead of being right at ten yards, you might have to bounce it a little farther down the field so that hopefully you get it around the 50 and have that shot. >> al: but you don't want a packer to touch it and not recover it and then have it bounce around and the clock run out on you. >> cris: here we go. we all know the strategy now. as a general rule, what they do is they take this front wall and block now. then they have a receiver behind that wall. and it looks like that's going to be tramon williams at the bottom of the screen. so all these guys are going to block and just try and give tramtram tramen a chance to catch the ball. >> al: what are the odd of this? 793-1 that they recover it and make a hail mary. the ball will not pass out of

bounds at the 30 yard line. so they had the right idea. and they passed it out of bounds, and that's going to, in effect, end it. >> cris: that had a chance. that was that spinner that we see kicker do now. it has that spin, but it is like a top, but it spins itself out of bounds. wasn't that what new orleans did in the super bowl when they recovered that one, put that little funky spin on the ball? >> al: that was the unanticipated onside kick. third straight loss after leading by ten or more points, cris was talking about last year was the year of the major comeback, and the play of the game really turned here. detroit off to a hot start moving the ball again. picked up and run in by daniels for a touchdown. that will end it here. the green bay packer have won

seven of their last eight, the lions still haven't won in wisconsin in forever. and green bay will go to chicago next week with a chance to clinch the division, if they can beat the bears at soldier field. wendy's post game show is coming up next. cunningham, with words for aaron rodgers. wendy's coming up next with these messages.

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game report. here now bob costas. >> the packers take a game lead over chicago with a win at soldier field next week. they're only a half game back from the 49ers from the number two seed in the nfc and the niners have to play the patriots in foxborough next week. stars of the game, aaron rodgers, didn't throw for a td, but did have a long td run. trammen williams, a lot of man coverage on calvin johnson. you are never going to stop him. but when the game was in doubt, held him very much in check. >> michele: you had just 16 offensive plays in the first half. your coach mike mccarthy told you at half time throw the stats out of the window, we're going to go win this thing. how did you change things? >> we still had 22 minutes in possession, so it was an ugly win. ugly wins are better than tough losses. we're first in the division

right now, three left. big week next week in chicago, a chance to go two game up in the division. so it will be a quick turn around. >> michele: how much improved is this run game? it looked improved in the second half. >> it's getting better. we've got three guys tonight who ran the ball well. ryan grant, dujuan harris, he can be special down the road. and i had a little run myself. >> michele: yes, you did. ran it for for a touchdown. mike mccarthy told us coming into this game that really the matchup was your offensive line and their defensive front. how was your line able to be so effective? >> we've got good guys up front. donny has been playing well, don barclay. we gave them some help today, but they held up and in the run

game we did a good job keeping it square. >> michele: you took some nasty hits out there tonight, hard hits. did you feel they were within the rules or outside of the rules? >> i let those people figure that out. got one called. >> michele: congratulations on the win. >> thanks. >> michele: let's turn to tramon williams, your sole duty tonight was to catch calvin williams. how were you able to do it? >> just a team effort. obviously when you face a guy like calvin, it's a total defensive effort. we kept an eye on him all day. >> michele: next week you're expected to get clay matthews and charles woodson back, expected to. how do you feel your defense is positioned for the final stretch here? >> i think it's positioned good. when those guys come back, it will make our team that much better. >> michele: congratulations. >> thank you. >> so with the packers' win over

the lions, the nfc picture looks like this. san francisco and seattle both won. so the 49ers remain a game and a half up on the seahawks in the nfc west while the giants win keeps them one game up on the cowboy ps and the redskins in the east, green bay is now a game ahead of chicago. those two teams will meet at soldier field next week. let's bring in tony dungy. what do you make of the packers after tonight? >> well, you can hear the excitement in aaron rodgers and tramon williams' voice. they do have a lot to be excited about, that defense will get better when they wood woodson and matthews back. what they have to be fired up about is finding that run game tonight. we know what rodgers can do, but they got a big lift from alex green early in the game, then ryan grant, the guy they brought back, gave them a little spark on the big drive to clinch the game. and aaron rodgers said dujuan harris could be special. if they're running the ball like

this getting 150, 160 yards to rush the game, they'll be hard to stop. >> atlanta lost to carolina today. their second loss. i don't know what that tells us. but what stood out in the nfc? >> a big day for the giants today. they found running with david wilson. eli manning looked like he's finding his groove. i know they really wanted to get victor cruz back involved. when victor is playing well, he gives them an offensive spark. when they can score points, their pass rushers become that much more potent. i would really look out for the giants to get out on one of the late season runs like they've done the last couple of years. >> a quick look at the afc now. the picture didn't become much clearer today. baltimore, pittsburgh and cincinnati all lost. it seems those three teams are fighting for two spots now, though the 6-7 jets are still hanging on as you look at all the possibilities.

the colts need one more win in their last three games. in the afc, what team catches your eye? >> we've looked at houston and new england for quite a while, but denver broncos, bob, are just quietly winning. won eight in a row. peyton manning is, no question, the difference. i thought all along it would be december before peyton was playing his best ball with the broncos. he's developed that chemistry that comes from just the work and the practice. their defense can put pressure on people when they get a lead. and denver lass a chance to do something special because of that peyton manning and the confidence he brings to them. >> we'll turn to mike florio of pro football talk. take us through some of the day's most significant injuries. >> a huge overtime win for the redskins over the ravens, but also a huge scare for the redskinses. quarterback robert griffin iii left in the fourth quart wer a knee injury. tried to come back, left for

good, had an mri earlier tonight it was determined there was no significant ligament damage. but i'm told that his status against the browns is up in the air. they've lost quarterback jay cutler. he has a neck injury, day-to-day. the cowboys had an emotional win the day after the death of linebacker -- i'm blacking on his name. >> jerry brown. >> jerry brown. sorry about that, bob. but morris clayburn had a laceration to the face, he left in the fourth quarter and did not return. >> mike, thanks. you can tune in to pro football talk every weekday at 5:00 p.m. on the nbc sports network. also catch "the dan patrick show" weekdays from 9:00 to noon. al and cris are back to wrap things up after this. feet?

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welcome back to the wendy's post game report. here now al michaels and cris collinsworth. >> packers win. at one point down. but come back. to foxborough next week. great matchup, san francisco, great defense and all that. colin kaepernick now a quarterback against brady and the patriots. >> but that's the real matchup. smith has 19 1/2 sacks. michael strahan set the record with 22 1/2 and a little controversy at the end of that one. but this is tom brady going up against that defense is really about as good a matchup as you can hope for in the national football league. >> so much at stake here, too, because as tony was talking about in the pregame show, the playoff positioning and a huge difference between being the one and two seed and number three, you have to play a wild card game. >> and colin kaepernick will be

in one of those kind of games, those big moments, and is he ready? you know, as alex smith was the guy at least he had some playoff experience, but this is a big one for him. >> 49ers and patriots, that's next sunday night on nbc. it all starts at 7:00 eastern time. "football night in america." so this is the story from green bay. al michaels, cris collinsworth, michele tafoya. for our entire crew. saying good night from lambeau field in green bay, wisconsin.

>> good evening. our big story an off duty baltimore county police officer is on the mend affs he was shot.

>> police say there was some kind of a party that was going on. first they got a call for a report of a report of a fight and then another call that someone had been shot. it wasn't until they got there that they realized it was one of their own. >> we heard the gun shots go off first. then we looked outside and saw a big group of people. >> all the commotion was centered down the street outside a house. an off duty baltimore county police officer had been shot twice while sitting in his car. the officer just happened to be driving down the street when he came across a large group of people in the road. >> he opened his window to ask them to move so he could pass. at that point a subject came out of the crowd with a hand

gun and fired several times into the vehicle. >> police aren't naming the officer but say he was flown to shock trauma. he has been treated and released. >> investigators believed he had no idea that he was a police officer and that he was not targeted >> officers spent the day investigating witnesses. taylor says he wants to see more presence and the whole incident has left him unsettled. >> it's definitely not a good feeling. we're probably going to look into moving now. >> police are still investigating this incident. anyone with any information should call them. >> thank you. mothers against drunk driving calls this time of year one of the most dangerous to be on the nation's roadways. one reason police were out overnight looking for drivers

under the influence. howard county police stopped almost 650 cars overnight and they arrested six of those drivers. five of them were arrested and charged with driving under the influence and one person driving under the suspended license. drinking and driving is something law enforcement take seriously but this time of year they are especially vigilant. the state attorney says he sees an uptick between thanksgiving and new year's eve. >> they should pay attention because last year in baltimore county we had about 2,500 driving under the influence arrest in baltimore county. every time one of those individuals drinks and drives like that, they're putting themselves, the people in their car, and more importantly the innocent people that they're driving next to at risk. >> of those people arrested last year, his office had about allege 86% conviction rate. tomorrow delegate john carden

says he will be holding a news conference to address issues surrounding the speed county program. the conducted a massive test last weekend to check the cameras accuracy. city police closed all three lanes and sent vehicles on the repeated test runs. they ordered the cameras to have been completed this past friday. you may have a couple extra bucks this holiday season due to dropping gas prices. a survey shows that the average u.s. price of a gallon has dropped a dime. right now the price is at 3.38 in the baltimore area even lower with the average price of regular at $3.34 a gallon. president obama and house speaker john boehner met at the white house for another round of talks to avert the fiscal cliff.

both sides say they're keeping the lines of communications open but no word of a break through. >> president obama and house speaker john boehner were behind closed doors trying to break the stalemate that threatens to take the country over the fiscal cliff in just over three weeks. one by one republicans are bowing to the president's demand that taxes go up for the wealthy. >> will i accept a tax increase as a part of a deal to actually solve our problems? yes. we don't have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before you're in. i mean, we have one house that's it. the presidency and the senate in the democrat's hand. >> since we agree with the democrats 98% of the people and 08% of the bush tax cuts i would get that off the table now. >> democrats insist taxes are going up on the rich no matter what. >> if you don't increase tax rates on the highest 2% of income owners you cannot

generate enough revenue to have meaningful deficit reduction. >> republicans want big spending can you tell us to programs. >> we don't want to be back here in another year and another 10 years answering the same questions. >> as the talks continue on both sides americans from main street to wall street wait to see who will blink first. >> both sides are earring to wind down this crisis and head home for the holidays but no one wants to walk away in doo feet. -- defeat. >> former president george hw bush remains in stable condition for treatment of a bronchitis related cough. more than two weeks since the 88-year-old was admitted for treatment. a hospital spokesman says there is no change in the condition. doctors have indicated that the 41st president continues to improve but in no hurry to release him. >> up next a horrible discovery